Entertainment

In reality, O.J. Simpson's attorney Johnnie Cochran was many things at once, wrapped up in one immaculately tailored package: a smooth-talking litigator, crusading redeemer of racial injustice, fiery orator sermonizing to juries, master media manipulator, and down-and-dirty legal brawler who'd stop at next to nothing in service of his client.

To find an actor to compellingly portray any one of Cochran's multiple facets would certainly be a challenge, but to search out someone to play all of them on TV? It would seem a near impossible task, were it not for the fact that The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story executive producer Ryan Murphy was already well acquainted with a performer up to the challenge: Courtney B. Vance, whose wife Angela Bassett had been working her own special magic for Murphy's anthology series American Horror Story to much acclaim for several seasons.

"I’ve been to a lot of different events for American Horror Story — openings and premieres — and I knew eventually something would come along for me," reveals Vance of his relaxed road to a role on a Murphy series.

One of the most respected actors of his generation, Vance has routinely turned in exceptional performances for over three decades, from early-era stints in films like Hamburger Hill and The Hunt For Red October to high profile turns in The Preacher's Wife and The Affair.

Vance commanded considerable respect in the industry, though full-on stardom remained a bit elusive. That is, until the opportunity to play the charismatic, complicated and oft-polarizing Johnnie Cochran — a persona that existed somewhere between the pithy, colorful soundbites during the Simpson trial and the relentless pursuit of social justice for people of color wronged by the system – came along.

Now, six episodes into the limited series, Vance is garnering both widespread acclaim and increased public profile for his pitch-perfect interpretation of the late attorney, from the private side filled with endless ambition, occasional hubris and his own history of being discriminated against to the public displays of both blistering social outrage and beguiling charm.

"He's a very flamboyant and out-there kind of guy," Vance tells Mashable. "Somebody who anybody would have fun playing ... he says what’s on his mind, he doesn’t mince words, at the same time he has a great time. Someone said that he’s got about three different agendas going at any one time. And you loved him and hated him, but you had to respect him because he was the man in this area. This was his area. The police brutality case he cut his teeth on. So I was excited."

Courtney Vance as Johnnie Cochran.

Image: FX

At first, Vance admits, he was "shocked" that he'd been tapped to play the character and didn't see any sort of resemblance. Then he put on that wig.

"When I put that wig on I said, 'Oh, wow,'" he says. "And the mustache that I did grow, but the wig helped me transform into somebody I never thought I would be able to."

"When I put that wig on I said, 'Oh, wow."

Along with the external details, Vance had to land many of those still-quoted Cochran-isms in just the right way. "Not so much the line, but the staging of those particular scenes — they had to be very accurate," he says. "They had a video lady there every day all day with her laptop and bringing up the footage so people could see and the director could see how this goes and whether or not we have to do that exactly like that, or whether we can take dramatic license on this one."

But it's Vance portrayals of the various internal struggles, conflicts and contradictions that have truly brought Cochran to vivid life on the screen. He admits despite one encounter with the attorney, he was really starting from mostly from scratch. "I didn’t know him very much," says Vance. "I’ve met him at a party in 1997 at his house, but I didn’t know him. I didn’t know much about the case anyway. I followed it from the beginning and at the beginning of the Bronco chase, and I came back in at the verdict. So it was all education for me."

Cochran's personal life, too, was a mystery to Vance.

"I didn’t know he had a whole other family. I didn’t know those things," he says. "I mean, I think for people who were not involved day to day, they may not know that either, and how that potentially almost derailed, but because he’s Johnnie Cochran, he turned it on the reporters and it went away and they got back to the trials."

Where Vance needed little education was on the subject of Cochran's client and his backstory. A big fan of football, Vance says he knew a lot about Simpson, from when he was at USC and played with the Buffalo Bills.

"He was a hero. Today, you’ve got LeBron [James], you’ve got Kobe [Bryant], you’ve got Michael Jordan. You’ve got Serena, Tiger Woods. But he was the first. The fact that he became a spokesperson for a major corporation like Hertz is unheard of," he says. "So we were all [fans], even though he had done nothing for the black community ... Nothing. He didn’t consider it. 'I’m not black, I’m O.J.' So he was an anomaly, but we loved him because of what he represented. And he was married to a white woman, so in a sense, he seemed like he had it all. But he got caught up and got brought down low."

Even with that awareness, when the jury's verdict came back in 1995 in favor of Simpson's acquittal, Vance admits, "I was celebrating."

"Not O.J., I was celebrating Johnnie Cochran’s victory, his work in the system. I think that’s what we all were celebrating. O.J. — it really wasn’t about O.J., and the tragedy was Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman got lost in all of that," he says.

Mashable
is a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe.